I often think back to CS Lewis's novel, "That Hideous Strength," which involves a scientific-technological innovation becoming a conduit for demonic influence. It's been years since I read it and my recollection of the story is dim, but I find myself thinking about it in light of recent developments in AI and online algorithms.
Many thanks for this wonderful piece Mark. I can’t add a great deal to what earlier commenters have said, other than it's a very timely wake up call as I'd been slipping back down the Facebook and You Tube rabbit hole again recently.
Let's just say I spent a lot of time reading this and thinking "yep, me too"!!
Great article! I came across this quote recently: "Technology is our hope if we can accept it as our enemy, but as our friend, it will destroy us" (Stephen Talbott, "The Deceiving Virtues of Technology"). To make matters worse, I've transitioned to a fully remote based job with an emphasis on marketing, so I've got to have my fingers on the pulse of things I don't much care about. Six to eight hours daily on the computer Monday through Friday, not including the mini screen in my pocket which has basically become a bodily organ. The saving grace here is perhaps the fact that I work for a company which promotes regenerative agriculture through action and community, so the substance of content is something I very much care about. However, I'm continuing to work towards a reality where my family can live a homesteading lifestyle, embracing the idea of "people, place, and prayer", but I am feeling nervous about the need to keep working on this career trajectory to support it financially. I hope one day I can pay the mortgage through other means. Or at least scale back my computer work to part time.
That's a great quote - begging the (ongoing) discernment of how to live artfully with a (perhaps) necessary enemy in our midst.
It's a mystery and a paradox, isn't it - to be working online long hours in support of real life and deeply good things - regenerative agriculture, community, etc. I pray you and your family will continue to grow in the direction of your dreams!
Thank you for writing something thoughtful that is worthy of my attention.
I think there is a difference between a tool and a device. A tool enhances human ability while a device replaces humans. I could peel an apple with my fingernails. Or I could use the tool of an apple peeler. The plough is a tool whereas a combine is a device (eliminates the work of many farmer and makes it possible for just one person to harvest thousands of acres of corn or soy).
I don’t have WiFi at home. We get dvds from the library and watch those for evening entertainment. I go to the library to use the internet. Every now and again we’ll go rent a cabin in some place with no electricity or WiFi. And you know I realize when we do that? The days are sooo long! I draw the line at AI. It’s disheartening that most people just walk right on past that line without any thought. I’m also enrolled in an herbalism apprenticeship when we’re at our herbal elders house, we’re not allowed to interact with our phones for any purpose (not even photos). They are to remain in our cars.
Thank you Alissa! I think that's a fruitful distinction, between tool and device. I"m going to sit with that for a while.
I appreciate the boundaries you've mentioned - it does seem important to have an intentional line drawn somewhere. We have internet at an office on our property (not in the house), though I've pondered limiting non-email use to the library because even here it often draws me away from the abundance of life. Sounds like you have a wise elder leading your herbalism course.
I love the difference here between a tool and a device. Never thought of it that way. I have to admit, I'm loving a new app which helps me identify native plant species. In an ideal scenario, it would lead me to a place where I would no longer require the use of the app, but that is going to take some serious intention.
I'm with you with the plant apps! I've been immensely helped by them. I think we currently need plant apps because there just aren't people we can go and ask. Don't worry you'll get to a point where you won't need it as much. I say this from experience. :-)
Remembering how much I "hated" Chris Nilan as a teen year- old Bruins fan. Appreciate this essay, especially "The demons’ ordinary victory is not found in Satan worship, but in lives of distraction and dissipation, where people are enslaved to their ‘passions’ and are unable to hear and respond to the presence of God in their lives. " I'm waiting at an airport gate reading and writing on substack instead of going to the chapel to pray as I planned. Oh boy, the layers of moral complexity when we start writing about the morality of the Internet on the Internet!
I know - I think there might be a parallel in the Vedanta teaching of using (accurate) knowledge as a 'thorn removing a thorn' to dispel false knowledge, and then throwing both away for the greater reality that lies beyond knowledge.
Can we use the medium of the internet to help move beyond dependance on the internet?
Thank you so much for distracting me on the internet with this extremely useful essay on being distracted on the internet! It was a useful distraction from other useful things I was doing, and it will help me when, five minutes from now, I find myself being pulled off the path by some other less useful and more demonic distraction. Lately my Centering Prayer algorithm seems to have been programmed by that demon! The four Rs of Contemplative Outreach teaching are good tools "to make ourselves indifferent to all created things" in and out of contemplative practice. The Welcoming Prayer helps, too, and is much more effective than getting into a Knuckles vs. Cementhead knockdown drag-out with the dark side of the force... Thanks again, Mark!
Yes, there are some very interesting parallels between St. Ignatius and the Centering Prayer/ Welcoming Prayer/ Contemplative Outreach approach. All pointing to a ways of being that are so very different than the logic of the computational age....
Great stuff! I think I was rooting for Knuckles Nilan while you were on the other side! Also appreciate the reference to Iain McGilchrist. I keep holding his big book off, having only committed to six 1000-page works in my life and knowing what it takes! But maybe it will keep me iut of the devil’s net this summer!
Thanks Webster! To be honest, I've only skimmed it myself, and then had several excellent conversations with a friend who has read it thoroughly - but it was enough to be a big help in this realm!
A good piece, Mark, thank you.
I often think back to CS Lewis's novel, "That Hideous Strength," which involves a scientific-technological innovation becoming a conduit for demonic influence. It's been years since I read it and my recollection of the story is dim, but I find myself thinking about it in light of recent developments in AI and online algorithms.
Many thanks for this wonderful piece Mark. I can’t add a great deal to what earlier commenters have said, other than it's a very timely wake up call as I'd been slipping back down the Facebook and You Tube rabbit hole again recently.
Let's just say I spent a lot of time reading this and thinking "yep, me too"!!
Superb read though, thank you 😊
You're most welcome, Andrew! Glad it was helpful.
I figured maybe I wasn't the only one. :-)
Whereas curiosity is classically an educational sin,
studious-ness(?!) is the antidote.
brother you are welcome to take a look and unsubscribe if it's not for you:
https://manorthey.substack.com/p/introductions
Indeed, studiousness - temperance of the mind - is St. Thomas' Aquinas' prescribed remedy for curiosity. It's a virtue I'm seeking to grow in....
me too, brother. :)
and also welcome to my substack. After closing the doors to keep the "merely curious" out, I have opened up questions.
there's plenty in my substack to confuse... ;-)
feel free to ask me questions, disagree, etc. all is free there, for kind hearted and disciplined minds. but most of all,
for those of us who struggle to forgive each other and practice metanoia.
your brother;
-basil
Great article! I came across this quote recently: "Technology is our hope if we can accept it as our enemy, but as our friend, it will destroy us" (Stephen Talbott, "The Deceiving Virtues of Technology"). To make matters worse, I've transitioned to a fully remote based job with an emphasis on marketing, so I've got to have my fingers on the pulse of things I don't much care about. Six to eight hours daily on the computer Monday through Friday, not including the mini screen in my pocket which has basically become a bodily organ. The saving grace here is perhaps the fact that I work for a company which promotes regenerative agriculture through action and community, so the substance of content is something I very much care about. However, I'm continuing to work towards a reality where my family can live a homesteading lifestyle, embracing the idea of "people, place, and prayer", but I am feeling nervous about the need to keep working on this career trajectory to support it financially. I hope one day I can pay the mortgage through other means. Or at least scale back my computer work to part time.
That's a great quote - begging the (ongoing) discernment of how to live artfully with a (perhaps) necessary enemy in our midst.
It's a mystery and a paradox, isn't it - to be working online long hours in support of real life and deeply good things - regenerative agriculture, community, etc. I pray you and your family will continue to grow in the direction of your dreams!
Thank you for writing something thoughtful that is worthy of my attention.
I think there is a difference between a tool and a device. A tool enhances human ability while a device replaces humans. I could peel an apple with my fingernails. Or I could use the tool of an apple peeler. The plough is a tool whereas a combine is a device (eliminates the work of many farmer and makes it possible for just one person to harvest thousands of acres of corn or soy).
I don’t have WiFi at home. We get dvds from the library and watch those for evening entertainment. I go to the library to use the internet. Every now and again we’ll go rent a cabin in some place with no electricity or WiFi. And you know I realize when we do that? The days are sooo long! I draw the line at AI. It’s disheartening that most people just walk right on past that line without any thought. I’m also enrolled in an herbalism apprenticeship when we’re at our herbal elders house, we’re not allowed to interact with our phones for any purpose (not even photos). They are to remain in our cars.
Thank you Alissa! I think that's a fruitful distinction, between tool and device. I"m going to sit with that for a while.
I appreciate the boundaries you've mentioned - it does seem important to have an intentional line drawn somewhere. We have internet at an office on our property (not in the house), though I've pondered limiting non-email use to the library because even here it often draws me away from the abundance of life. Sounds like you have a wise elder leading your herbalism course.
I love the difference here between a tool and a device. Never thought of it that way. I have to admit, I'm loving a new app which helps me identify native plant species. In an ideal scenario, it would lead me to a place where I would no longer require the use of the app, but that is going to take some serious intention.
I'm with you with the plant apps! I've been immensely helped by them. I think we currently need plant apps because there just aren't people we can go and ask. Don't worry you'll get to a point where you won't need it as much. I say this from experience. :-)
Remembering how much I "hated" Chris Nilan as a teen year- old Bruins fan. Appreciate this essay, especially "The demons’ ordinary victory is not found in Satan worship, but in lives of distraction and dissipation, where people are enslaved to their ‘passions’ and are unable to hear and respond to the presence of God in their lives. " I'm waiting at an airport gate reading and writing on substack instead of going to the chapel to pray as I planned. Oh boy, the layers of moral complexity when we start writing about the morality of the Internet on the Internet!
I know - I think there might be a parallel in the Vedanta teaching of using (accurate) knowledge as a 'thorn removing a thorn' to dispel false knowledge, and then throwing both away for the greater reality that lies beyond knowledge.
Can we use the medium of the internet to help move beyond dependance on the internet?
Thank you so much for distracting me on the internet with this extremely useful essay on being distracted on the internet! It was a useful distraction from other useful things I was doing, and it will help me when, five minutes from now, I find myself being pulled off the path by some other less useful and more demonic distraction. Lately my Centering Prayer algorithm seems to have been programmed by that demon! The four Rs of Contemplative Outreach teaching are good tools "to make ourselves indifferent to all created things" in and out of contemplative practice. The Welcoming Prayer helps, too, and is much more effective than getting into a Knuckles vs. Cementhead knockdown drag-out with the dark side of the force... Thanks again, Mark!
Yes, there are some very interesting parallels between St. Ignatius and the Centering Prayer/ Welcoming Prayer/ Contemplative Outreach approach. All pointing to a ways of being that are so very different than the logic of the computational age....
Great stuff! I think I was rooting for Knuckles Nilan while you were on the other side! Also appreciate the reference to Iain McGilchrist. I keep holding his big book off, having only committed to six 1000-page works in my life and knowing what it takes! But maybe it will keep me iut of the devil’s net this summer!
Thanks Webster! To be honest, I've only skimmed it myself, and then had several excellent conversations with a friend who has read it thoroughly - but it was enough to be a big help in this realm!